Open Sea: Hired Hands on the Open Sea  

Quest Started By:Description:
Where:
Who:
Rating:
*****
Information:
Level:65
Maximum Level:125
Monster Mission:No
Repeatable:Yes
Can Be Shrouded?:No
Quest Type:Task
Quest Goal:
  • Faction
  • Loot
Time Limit:01:15:00
Factions Raised:
Factions Lowered:
    Quest Items:
    Related Zones:
    Related Creatures:
    Era:The Buried Sea
    Recommended:
    Group Size:Group
    Min. # of Players:3
    Max. # of Players:6
    Appropriate Classes:
    • All
    Appropriate Races:
    • All
    Entered: Fri Feb 16 04:26:26 2007
    Modified: Tue Dec 5 05:21:04 2023


    There are three versions of the "Hired Hands on the Open Sea" task: One involving live pirates (in zone "The Open Sea: Merchant vs Pirate"), one involving undead pirates (in zone "The Open Sea: Merchant vs Undead"), and one involving another merchant ship (in the zone "The Open Sea: Merchant vs Merchant"). Which task you get, is random.

    Note: Unlike most group missions, this task only has a 1:15 timer (one hour, 15 minutes).

    Also Note: This task scales in level. Shown here is the highest level of difficulty (Level 73+). You can get it at lower group levels where the mobs won't be as difficult as suggested here.



    This group mission begins with Captain Zeke (click for map image), who is located at -850, -290 in the Barren Coast (a dock near the middle of the coastline). There are no pre-requisites for requesting this task.

    You say, 'Hail, Captain Zeke'

    Captain Zeke says 'Aye, how be ye this fine morning? Things are well enough with me, I [suppose].'

    You say, 'You suppose?'

    Captain Zeke says 'At least the cartel sent a guard over to try to keep the undead at bay. I guess that's kind of them, considerin' that I'm not truly a member of their bloody [cartel]. They only let me use this dock because I act as a barrier between them and those stinkin' corpses that walk the beach to the south. What with the [walking dead], the [rats and thieves], I'm surprised that I get any customers at all. Hang on, are you a customer? Bloody bones, I didn't mean to make it sound all that bad.'

    You say, 'Bloody cartel?'

    Captain Zeke says 'Them Freetide Cartel folks, well, I can't say much bad about them. I pay them a bit for the use of this dock, they sometimes provide me with a guard. I make enough money to run Wave Dancer and that's about it. She may not be the sturdiest ship on the sea, but she serves me well. Unfortunately my ship and goods are not protected by the cartel, so the trip out to the Hook is not always uneventful. Them pirates. . . Hang on. It's not really that bad. Really. Are you interested in passage, or are you only here to listen to an old sea dog [chatter]? Or maybe you would like to hire on to [protect] my ship.'

    You say, 'Enough chatter!'

    Captain Zeke says 'Aye, I can run on a bit.'

    You say, 'I will protect your ship'

    Captain Zeke says 'Aye. From time to time I find it useful to hire on adventurers to help protect my ship. Captain Ongel seems to have some of the worst luck I have heard of. If you are [interested] gather a group of your friends, two to five will do, and let me know you are interested and I will hire you on.'

    You say, 'I am interested'

    You have been assigned the task 'Hired Hands on the Open Sea'.

    Captain Zeke wants you to protect his ship. Each member of your party will need to speak with Harbormaster Blumble and purchase a free ticket to the Open Sea, and then board the Wind Dancer for your tour of duty.



    Step 1

    Purchase tickets to the open sea and catch the boat 0/1 (Barren Coast)

    Dockmaster Blundle says 'You look like you've been at sea on a dangerous mission for a while? Perhaps you plan to head back out, in which case you're going to need to purchase another ticket before boarding the Wind Dancer.'

    Buy a "Seafarer's Ticket: The Open Sea" from any of the Dockmasters along the coastline and keep it in your inventory. When the ship docks, step onto it and wait for it to sail out to the Buried Sea. Upon zoning, you'll find yourself on board a ship.



    Step 2

    Stay aboard to protect the ship 0/1 (The Open Sea)

    This step updates automatically as you zone in.



    Step 3

    This step varies according to which version you're on.

    Kill 15 Pirates 0/15 (The Open Sea)

    --OR--

    Kill 15 Undead 0/15 (The Open Sea)

    --OR--

    Kill 15 Voracious Rats 0/15 (The Open Sea)

    --OR--

    Suppress but not kill 15 mutinous sailors 0/15 (The Open Sea)

    Damage them to 20% or lower and they deaggro. Name changes from "mutinous sailor" to "suppressed sailor"

    You can kill them without repercussion unless you kill too many to still get the 15 conversions.

    General pirate population hits for a max ~1,350. Named mobs (other than the captains) will hit for a max ~1,800 and have ~125,000 hitpoints each. It is NOT necessary to kill any named mobs here (they don't contribute to your kill count anyway).

    If you get the rat version, that's a little less difficult as you don't need to worry about KOS undead or pirate mobs - only the rats, which also hit for a little less than the pirates or undead.



    Step 4

    Speak to Fortuna Gelukk to report your progress 0/1 (The Open Sea)

    First Mate Fortuna Gelukk says 'Thank you for your help. You have repelled the boarding pirates so that we can escape. We will continue on the journey shortly.'

    First Mate Fortuna Gelukk says 'Thank you for your help. You have repelled the boarding undead so that we can escape. We will continue on the journey shortly.'

    First Mate Fortuna Gelukk says 'Thank you for your help, those rats were of unusual size were they not? We will continue on the journey shortly.'

    LOADING, PLEASE WAIT...
    You have entered Barren Coast.




    Step 5

    Speak with Captain Zeke to report your success 0/1 (Barren Coast)

    You say, 'Hail, Captain Zeke'

    Captain Zeke says 'Arrr. Ye have done me a great service. Thank ye.'

    You have successfully defended the ship by repelling the pirate boarders so the crew could take over.


    Rewards:
    - Doubloons (varies)
    - Faction with Blacksail Smugglers (+10)
    Rewards:
    Send a Correction
    Post Comment
    Mutinous Sailors
    # Apr 19 2017 at 8:24 PM Rating: Decent
    Scholar
    *
    60 posts
    > suppress but not kill 15 mutinous sailors.

    Damage them to 20% or lower and they deaggro. Name changes from "mutinous sailor" to "suppressed sailor"

    You can kill them without repercussion unless you kill too many to still get the 15 conversions.

    Mutinous Sailors
    # Apr 21 2017 at 7:45 AM Rating: Excellent
    GoldenFrog wrote:
    > suppress but not kill 15 mutinous sailors.

    Damage them to 20% or lower and they deaggro. Name changes from "mutinous sailor" to "suppressed sailor"

    You can kill them without repercussion unless you kill too many to still get the 15 conversions.



    Ok so this is a different version of this task. Do you have some info on this particular version other than what you posted?
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    Mutinous Sailors
    # Jul 21 2019 at 12:51 PM Rating: Good
    ***
    1,312 posts
    There are four versions of this task, not three. Two of them take place in the instance "The Open Sea: Merchant vs Merchant" -- the version with the rats, and the version with the mutinous sailors.

    For the mutinous sailors version, step 3 says, verbatim:
    Supress but do not kill Mutinous Sailors 0/15 (The Open Sea)

    And the response for step 4 is:
    First Mate Fortuna Gelukk says, 'Thank you for your help. Captain Malory sends you thanks for suppressing the mutiny. We will continue on the journey shortly.'


    Edited, Jul 21st 2019 2:08pm by nytmare
    Mutinous Sailors
    # Aug 16 2017 at 3:39 PM Rating: Decent
    Scholar
    *
    60 posts
    This is an additional option in step #3 - depending which version you are given.
    Steps
    # Aug 08 2009 at 9:03 PM Rating: Decent
    Scholar
    ***
    2,600 posts
    Purchase tickets to the open sea and catch the boat
    Stay aboard to protect the ship.
    Kill 15 Undead
    Speak to Fortuna Gelukk to report your progress
    (One more step I am not sure of wording.... but you go back to hail CaptaiN Zeke)
    ____________________________

    supression mission
    # Apr 30 2009 at 10:48 AM Rating: Decent
    *
    70 posts
    Supression mission doesnt give experience and only 10 dubloons.. Really pointless to get a quest/task that gives no exp.. Wonder if its broken.
    We cancelled the quest when it was given to us, the following mission we completed killing undead skeletons above deck and only received 7 dubloons for the mission instead of the 15 what we were getting before.

    Edited, Apr 30th 2009 5:09pm by Autobond
    Things I learned as a drakkin
    # Apr 22 2009 at 7:13 PM Rating: Decent
    *
    70 posts
    Dont use your breath weapon on the boat, it will aggro the good guys or aggros all the undead below decks. Unless you want a funeral at sea or join the undead; dont spit into the wind, no throwing up on deck and no breath weapon.

    Edited, Apr 22nd 2009 11:17pm by Autobond
    Doubloons Per run
    # Dec 02 2007 at 7:05 PM Rating: Decent
    Got 21 Doubloons each 71 Bst 71 Shm and a 69 SK
    mission tasks..
    # Oct 24 2007 at 5:52 AM Rating: Decent
    Mission I got was to...

    suppress but not kill 15 mutinous sailors.
    Then you go speak to someone on the boat, didn't write down the name.

    Needless to say this meant no exp. Not sure what happens if you actually kill them, didn't try it.
    min lvl?
    # May 19 2007 at 2:15 PM Rating: Decent
    I notice the lvl requirement is listed as 70-75. Now i've done this mission with 3, the lowest being 68. Average lvl was 72 and got the easier verion where the mobs are d.blue conn. Anther time the average was 73 and got the full on version where mobs where 74-76.

    My question is this. What is the lowest lvl char that can join on this mission. 70 deffinitely isn't. So does the average have to be 70? If so then 2x75 and a 60 could do this mission? More so, 4x75 and a 50 (max lvl diff with exp)?

    Not had oppotunity to test the limits. Wondered if someone has! Let us know lowest lvl char you had with you on this mission please.
    min lvl?
    # Jul 05 2007 at 8:09 AM Rating: Decent
    From my observations:
    I have been doing this mission on a fairly regular basis over the past couple of weeks with just 3 boxed toons, 75 Bst, 74 Cleric, and 62 Wizard (now almost 64 thanks to these missions). The min lvl has to be over 60 to start one of these as I have gotten the mission with each toon just to see if I could get it.
    To date, I have done this mission 10 times and have noticed that the starting point and NPC's that need to kill can and do change from time to time. This is what I have gotten so far:
    6 Kill 15 rats
    2 Kill 15 Pirates (1 started on the top deck and one started in the ship's hold)
    2 Kill 15 Undead
    The pirate and undead kills are a bit more difficult due to the agro rage and the number of adds. If you do get the pirate of undead kill missions, DO NOT pull and kill the named NPC's since they do not drop anything and will not count towards your kills. The rat kill missions are by far the easiest to complete with a group of 3 and can be done with 20 to 30 min to spare once a good pull pattern is established.
    Each time I have completed this mission I have received 15 Doubloons and Faction. Not sure if the number of doubloons goes up with the average level of the group, but I will find out soon.
    min lvl?
    # May 19 2007 at 5:14 PM Rating: Decent
    ***
    1,352 posts
    3 level 60s was the lowest level i could get this task at. 3 level 55s could not.
    This mission actually has many different versions which are slightly different. something interesting i noticed was that the missions is Not decided until one of the players actually zones into the instance and gets the third mission update. For example if you were to shroud to level 60 and get the instance, if you take off the shrouds Before Zoning into the instance i think it will make it harder.

    There are special instances for this mission which are intended for half groups (3). I ended up adding more people to one of those missions and i think it caused the missions to end because i got the message "your shared task has ended" .. maybe the timer ran out and i didnt notice.

    here's a write up for the level 60 one i just did:

    Time limit: 1hr 15min
    Purchast tickets to the open sea and catch the boat
    stay aboard to protect the ship.
    kill 15 Voracioius Rats
    ???
    ???
    Reward: 10 doubloons, Faction with blacksail smuggler's
    scales to group, uses different maps
    # May 01 2007 at 10:35 AM Rating: Decent
    ***
    1,352 posts
    first off this mission requies 3 people minimum, not 2. also, this mission IS repeatable. Also, you only get 1hr 15min for this mission.

    apparently this mission scales to group lvl & group size (half group VS 4 or more probably), and uses different maps for the different instances.

    the lvl 75 average zone was called shipmvm .. before that i did a instance which was 75/75/70 and that map was a zone called shipmvp..by looking at the eq files i see that there is 5 versions of this instance available most likely, unless they use the same map for different instances. So I'm guessing the lowest level average a group can get this task at is 55.. I'm guessing there is two missions per instance, for a total of 10 instances.. but i have to test that theory out fully still

    shipmvm
    shipmvp
    shipmvu
    shippvu
    shipuvu

    EACH different instance is slightly different on the task objectives.. i will give more detail later

    later on i will work on the maps for them+list mobs in each+quest journals/task objectives... i gotta go to work now though

    Edited, May 1st 2007 4:46pm by DukeLatan
    scales to group, uses different maps
    # Jun 23 2012 at 7:55 PM Rating: Good
    ***
    1,312 posts
    Different maps = different ship configurations.

    shipmvp = merchant vs pirate (Hired hands on the Open Sea - pirates, Pirating Ways)
    shipmvu = merchant vs undead (Hired hands on the Open Sea - undead, Protect My Ship)
    shipmvm = merchant vs merchant (Hired hands on the Open Sea - voracious rats)
    shipuvu = undead vs undead (Stop Kenox!)
    shippvu = pirate vs undead (We Need More Crew)
    3 people
    # Apr 04 2007 at 8:12 AM Rating: Decent
    We couldnt start this mission with 2 people as of 4/4/07. Minimum was 3.

    Edit: Did the pirate version(non undead) with 3 in group, however it was just 75 ranger(coa) tanking with me(75 cleric) dps'ing with vov & PRen+hots every once in awhile. Mission was easy with 3 ppl in it, mostly dark blues iirc. Got done in about 20 mins or so with 15 doubloons reward. Group was 75 ranger, 75 cleric, 68 or so other person in another zone.

    Had some warping issues though, with small trains lol.

    We tried it again with 2 more 75's added, and the mission was alot harder, with the reward only 20 doubloons. IMO much better to knock them out much quicker with 3 ppl groups unless you have a good group makeup.

    Got amiable faction with a couple of the aug missions(aviak/pirate islands), and about 10-15 each of the Shipwreck+Meek Shall What missions.

    Off topic, the Shipwreck mission(repeatable) in Barren Coast takes about 30 seconds per run with sow+levi, and you get ~3-4%aa per mission(not sure on the size of faction hits though).


    Edited, Apr 5th 2007 5:53am by shelearns
    3 people
    # May 19 2007 at 2:28 PM Rating: Decent
    Can say the faction hit on the shipwreck mission is small. Did it over a hundred times but was still amiable. Gotta say though, do this for an hour and get yourself a couple of AA's. Was using 110K horse and lev, with hotkey set up for renewing quest. Literally was non stop! Was only 73 at time. Might be at 75 you get lot less exp.
    3 people
    # May 26 2007 at 7:21 AM Rating: Decent
    71 SK with AA horse, AA instacast invis and levi on the shipwrecks mission took on average 1.5 minutes to complete for faction hit, 2.5% AA and 25 pp. Wouldn't be at all worth doing just for the PP or XP since 1 AA and 1Kpp per hour isn't very great. The faction added to the other rewards though makes this very nice. Remember that 1 AA, 1Kpp and 40 faction hits an hour was done with near ideal conditions (SK/pally horse is faster than everything but a tricked out bard's selos). You also have to be careful when hitting the southern 3 updates since undeads like to hang out around them and along the shore back towards the camp occasionally.

    Edited, May 26th 2007 11:23am by noitallguy
    3 people
    # May 26 2007 at 10:53 AM Rating: Decent
    ***
    1,352 posts
    the reward is 15 doubloons right? faction hits = half of the doubloon/orum for group missions, so this would be 7 points. solo missoins are 10.
    3 people
    # Aug 23 2007 at 12:17 AM Rating: Decent
    19 posts
    The two people above you are talking about a different solo task. Not this mission. No idea why it is posted here.
    3 people
    # Aug 23 2007 at 1:43 AM Rating: Decent
    ***
    1,352 posts
    yeah.. also i would like to correct my own information. Not sure what solo tasks are worth for shipwrecks. I did that quest quite alot, and the faction hit seemed very small, less than 10 per missions i think.

    also sk/pal mount is Not faster than everything except bard-- emp/seru/black drogmor is the same speed.

    Edited, Aug 23rd 2007 2:45:09am by DukeLatan
    2 people
    # Mar 21 2007 at 5:03 PM Rating: Decent
    Scholar
    20 posts
    Minimum is 2 people to start this quest. 71 sk and 75 shm (lost that try).

    Easy quest, Kill 15 undead mobs. Leave the live crew members alone.
    After you kill 15, hail the chic at the helm and get ported back to the docks by Captain Zeke. Hail him for the win.
    The mission is timed. Roughly an hour.

    The mobs in this mission seem to be level range 72-76 and hit for max of aprox 1100 to 1300. They /con yellow to red to a 71 SK. With a 71 SK, 75 shm, 75 bard, 75 sk and 71 clr we had no trouble winning. The named on the other ship conned red at 75. You do not have to kill that named and he is easy to avoid. Just any 15 undead work for win.

    Edited, Mar 21st 2007 9:22pm by Slowcat
    well
    # Mar 16 2007 at 6:03 AM Rating: Default
    Ok a 75 monk, 75 SHD, 68 War, 71 Druid, 68 Cleric, and 70 Bst did 2 verisions of this mission. The first one was regular pirates and we finished it. Pulling is the key here or you will have to many adds. We killed the ones on our ship down stairs. Then went up and pulled the other ships top ones to our ship. Then once cleared we moved over to top and started to pull captain area. Then went downstairs and cleared the room. The 5 chests can not be opened until all mobs are killed in the area. Now the undead mission we bombed and can not figure out how to get it done. Any ideas?
    ouch
    # Mar 08 2007 at 7:01 AM Rating: Decent
    *
    85 posts
    I tried to solo this after grouping with two others to request the mission. Not a good idea. You start on one ship and need to kill on a second ship. As soon as I stepped on the plank to look at the other ship every mob on the other ship rushed onto my ship and killed me. The pirates that are on the ship you are working for do no assist you so I was dead in 5 seconds.
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